Heavenly Humor

When it comes to near-death experiences, God — and His/Her/Its many representatives — often display a terrific sense of humor. This is one of the most important characteristics of the Divine — and also one of the most overlooked and/or downplayed.

“I became aware that the God I was experiencing was not just a life force, or some impersonal consciousness but God had a personality, an integrity like the father I had never known. God had a sense of humor! He and I both laughed at the thought of me questioning His existence. It seemed to me the absolutely funniest thought in the world, and we laughed at thought of it. I realized that I was the shadow, and He was the reality. The very idea that I would question His existence was a source of laughter for God and me. I was sobbing, overcome by the sheer amount of love that swept through me and over me, and laughing at the same time.”

“The light and I talked for quite a long time. Oh yes! On the other side communication is done via telepathy (thought transfer). I must tell you that God has a fantastic sense of humor, I never laughed so much in all my life! We laughed about the way so serious I had reacted to an event. Life on earth is a big drama! It should not be taken too much in earnest!”

“This glorious, wonderful entity recognized me, understood perfectly every minute aspect about me, and poured love into me. The love was real, as much a force as a feeling, and immeasurable. Knowing every little thing about me and my life and viewing it along with me, there was a lot of real amusement. This being has a personality. It is fun to be with, delightful, and it has a sense of humor. I never wanted to leave this divine Presence, but somehow, without explanation, but with perfect understanding, I knew that I had to go back, and I understood that this was good and right.”

“Jesus laughed and then gave me the answer, not in words but in a ‘knowing’ that encompassed not just the element of the question, but a complete understanding of all relational aspects of the question. He has a wonderful sense of humor and I distinctly got the feeling that He enjoys us humans as a father enjoys watching the minor scrapes children get themselves into.”

“The room was quiet and the only ‘sound’ I could hear was the ‘sound’ of the telepathically delivered voice. The voice was more than a voice as it expressed the whole personality of the being. A being of pure joy, love with a wonderful sense of humor and an easy ability to laugh.”

“I do not know why, but my life from that time to now has consistently had strange interventions. Any way I put this will sound absurd. My life has been blessed with lots of silly little miracles. God is a great joker in my case. He always reminds me that He’s with me. The Almighty has a sense of humor. I always try to rationalize what happens but really, I’ve given up. God acts in the everyday world. That is the miracle of God. The miracle is all around us, and we do not see it…..”

“It seemed impossible that I could be loved and accepted just as I was in that moment. Released from the burden of self-punishment, embraced in the wholeness of this forgiving presence, I was enveloped in joy. I seemed to become transparent, the light of divine love flowing through me. Then I heard the sound of soft, benevolent laughter, which felt like the wise and gentle smile of the Buddha. Again I was surprised and perplexed; I had not expected to hear laughter from a divine force. It rained over me like soft petals. Then it said: ‘My child, you mustn’t take things so seriously. You are just part of an evolutionary chain, in which all life evolves at different stages of development. You are only human. You need not judge yourself so harshly. Be gentle with yourself.’ I had gotten only the slightest glimpse of the limitless realms beyond the finite boundaries of the world we inhabit. I was eager to learn more.”

“At first, most of the scenes that we discussed were ones in which I had done something wrong or bad. However, He also pointed out scenes where I had done something outstanding. In the bad scenes, He chastised me severely and used it as a teaching moment to ingrain into me that I must always be truthful, loving, or good in all of my actions and words. While reviewing a scene in which I had done something bad or wrong, I could see that I had acted inappropriately and wanted to slant my answer to make the action seem less evil to Him. As soon as I started giving a slanted reason for my action, He would authoritatively stop me and correct me. When He corrected me, I had to acknowledge His truth and correct my slanted reason. Did you know Jesus has a great sense of humor? In some of the scenes where something funny happened or was said, He laughed with me, and with gusto.”

“The Light has a voice that I have never heard, but it is not strange to me. The Light has a smile that is indescribably beautiful, and I recognize that too. The Light has an incredible sense of humor and an infectious laugh, and we talk and laugh together. The Light has the answers to all of the questions in the universe — and I don’t have any questions, because I know everything that the Light knows, and that is everything!”

“There were beings, not that I could see, but that I was aware of. They were complete compassionate, loving, incredibly caring beings. They said this is the entrance to… the level of life… These are our concepts. These are some of our concepts. If you feel that you can contribute to them, or even understand them, you are welcome to come in… They actually gave me all the experiences of all my lifetimes to make the decision whether to come in. I looked at these concepts and frankly, I didn’t understand them. I thought I just didn’t know enough. And I communicated to these amazing beings ‘I think I ought to go back.’ And then I was aware for the first time of the huge humor that’s in the universe; of the sort of chuckle of appreciation. And the voices in unison said, ‘We think you should.’ “

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk: What happened — I went downtown and was at Northwestern Memorial in the ICU, underwent three brain surgeries where the issue was brain swelling which would create such a pressure on the lower brain stem and could be fatal. My doctors said without the procedure I would have been dead within three days. I do remember waking up in the ICU not exactly knowing where I was. Probably it was a pharmacological event. I think there was a lot of that in my system.

Reporter: I read in the Daily Herald today about angels. Did you feel as if there were angels there?

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk: I did. I felt like there were three angels in the room. And interestingly, they had New York accents, probably because the last movie I’d seen was on Channel 11, was the original Oceans 11, the brat pack movie… They were there in the ICU. They probably have a regular gig there because of the issues.

Reporter: Right. Right. And yet you said, “No, not yet…”

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk: Yeah, and they said, “Mark, you want to come with us. You know you can come with us if you want.” Complete New York accent. The way they introduced themselves, they said, “Mark, uh, we’re angels; we’re angels down here.” And established that simpatico thing. “You want to come with us?” I said, “No, I’ll hold off.”

“In one strand I was aware that Light knew me better than I knew myself. Despite any of my foibles, eccentricities, poor decisions and plain old humanness, it loved me to the core. It found the seriousness with which I viewed myself amusing. It seemed to be certain that in the end, all of my problems, hurts, inflicted hurts, and my life in general would be redemptive in the sense that it would ultimately end in love.”

“Then God asked me… He said ‘let me ask you one question’. ‘Have you ever loved another person the way you have been loved here’. The love I had received in that time was so overpowering… I had never felt anything like it so I answered God honestly. I said, ‘No…it is impossible…I am just a human, you are God’. He gave me the illusion of a sweet protective chuckle. He then said, ‘Mary, you can do better’.”

“And It [God] kind of chuckled. It wasn’t human, but It was able to relate to me in a very human way that made me feel loved. And It wasn’t laughing at me, but It was a chuckle, like it had a playful edge. And it said, ‘You can do better.'”

“I was about to cross this stream when all of a sudden I was engulfed with a beautiful, warm and bright light, which somehow felt like a cloud. I felt arms around me and the light talked with me. It told me that I would not be able to stay; that I had much work left to do and I had to go back to finish it. I am a very stubborn person so I began to argue with the light telling it that I was not going back. I even stomped my foot (however, I don’t think I had a foot or anything like that; it was more like I was floating). I have always said after this experience that God has a beautiful sense to humor, because when I stomped my foot and said I did not want to go back and I was NOT going back, there was this little chuckle and the light smiled at me and said, ‘Oh, yes you will’ and of course I did come back.”

“I remember after my experience I had the simplest situation where two cable guys showed up at my house… What I discovered was the Divine having a sense of humor. Things are funny. The two cable guys show up at the house and they were wearing their uniforms for work and they were there to hook up the cable for the TV. My husband had made an appointment and he had to go to work right after my NDE… (He] was very busy taking, care of the family, and so I was at home in this state with kids just trying to figure out how to function. And the cable guys show up and when I opened the door I saw them how the Divine sees them and I couldn’t stop laughing. I was trying not to be rude but to me they looked like — if you imagine little kids going into the closet and trying clothes on and trying to look really serious and showing up at the door and be like ‘We’re the cable guys’. I can’t describe it. I was like ‘Oh, OK.’ I brought them in and they were just really serious about their job like ‘We’re here to hook up the TV’. To me it was just so funny because I was so disconnected from things like watching TV, and watching football, or sitcoms… I just didn’t realize that this appointment was coming and while they were hooking it up, they were asking me really simple questions like ‘OK, so what channel do you want? Do you want ESPN? Do you want the cartoon channel?’ Everything they were asking me was busting me up.

“I got to where I felt like I was being rude because they have an important job. There’s nothing that isn’t important. Everything that people do is part of their own vital experience and it’s all beautiful really. It’s just that it felt totally different to me. I had to actually — I told them I’m really sorry; I think I’m sick or something. And one of the guys said, ‘Did you take some NyQuil?’ And I was wiping the tears and blowing my nose and I finally said, ‘You know what, you guys can hook up anything you want because I need to leave the room.’ And so I had to leave because I knew at some point it was going to look like I was being rude…

“I saw people from then on the way we see toddlers when they’re playing. I see that despite how we age here — we get older and we take ourselves seriously and we think, you know, I have this important thing I’m doing — but the Divine is like: ‘Lighten up. It’s OK, you can lighten up.’ And I tend to be so serious from what I came from. I worry so much. I thought things were so serious and I wanted to please God and I prayed so much and now through the Divine I was seeing that it’s totally OK to just have fun and laugh. I was laughing so much, I was wheezing…”

“There is no suffering, pain or difficulty, that we can’t overcome with a positive thought. I learned that if I laugh at my problems, I laugh with myself, with others, it gives me enormous strength in times of pain.”

“When the being of light said his first words to me, I felt he knew me perfectly. He already could see my past, present and future. He knew it all in one moment, and so in saying this, he had no illusions about me; he saw my warts and all. Yet, I felt this most profound unconditional love beyond comprehension. It was a relief to be so totally known and loved at the same time. It is hard to put into words. Somehow, I ‘knew’ that this being was loving me at that moment, as if it were all the moments of my existence, past, present and future. He loved me as if I was the most loved human from the beginning of human history to the end of human history. I felt loved as if I were the only human being that ever existed. Yet, I knew that this being loved everyone exactly the same way, and that was no contradiction. At the same time, I knew this being of light awakened some part of me somewhere deep inside, a reserved place made for him and him alone, a part that had some direct knowledge of him that seemed as if it had been dormant and now awakened. I could truthfully say, I knew him even as what and who he was beyond my finite knowing. And so he was like meeting my very best friend, the best friend I had longed to meet all my life. No words can describe this.

“I knew him, yet I cannot explain how. I just knew him. It was as if he had been present in every moment I ever felt loved and then far beyond these moments to all moments. He was so alive, so joyful, so free, so mirthful, so playful, and so utterly alive with joy. He radiated joy as if he was the source of all life, joy, truth, goodness, beauty, truth, like a living fountain that continually flowed up, but a living fountain that was its own source of water. This being had absolutely no condemnation or judgment of anyone or me. It just was not there. I felt totally liberated from all the shame I had internalized from my past while in his presence. I felt totally free to be alive and joyful, too. It was like I had come to life for the first time.

“Time did not exist anymore, time without time. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that was what it was like, timelessness. I ‘knew’ that I had all the time I wanted with him. There was no rush, no sense of urgency. He was not distracted or preoccupied. For this time, I seemed to have his complete attention. The being seemed totally delighted to be with me. I did not feel self-conscious or awkward. His very essence seemed to be made of love, as if loving was all he could do, but he did so with total freedom, total delight. It was contagious. And, I tell you that no one on earth has ever loved like this being.

“Troubled by my own doubts about my masculinity since I was a teen, I decided this was my chance to ask this being a question that plagued me for a long time. So, I asked my question by sending my thoughts to him, which was so natural, so easy, and so effortless, like I had telepathically spoke all my life. I asked him, ‘Is it alright to be gay?’ Now, I know it sounds like a strange question, that question out of all the questions I could ask an eternal loving being, but it was sincere and at age 22 that was my question. Today I would ask entirely different ones and not stop at one question. But, the being of light, laughed and smiled, I cannot tell you how I knew this, but I just knew it. And, with great love in his voice he said, ‘That is not the most important question.’ I wish everyone could hear the gentleness, the tenderness I heard in his voice. This is not a God of wrath and judgment. That response really surprised me, as my heart was beating in my throat, when I asked it, and I expected to be given a stern lecture of condemnation. But, the being let me know that he had full confidence in me to figure out what the most important question is. At the same, time I knew he wouldn’t give me the most important question, that he wanted me to discover it for myself.”

“If you wish to glimpse inside a human soul and get to know a man, don’t bother analyzing his ways of being silent, of talking, of weeping, of seeing how much he is moved by noble ideas; you will get better results if you just watch him laugh. If he laughs well, he’s a good man.”

— Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky

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Cartoons & Signs

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A Face Lift, Liposuction, The Works

Sharon, a middle-aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she has a near-death experience. During that experience she sees the Angel of Death and asks if this is it. The Angel of Death says no, and explains that she has another 30 years to live.

Upon her recovery Sharon decides to just stay in the hospital and have a face lift, liposuction, the works. She figures since she’s got another 30 years she might as well make the most of it.

She walks out of the hospital after the last operation and is immediately killed by an ambulance speeding by.

She arrives in heaven and sees the Angel of Death and complains, “I thought you said I had another 30 years!”

Categories

Quotes

"Unlike spiritual paths that arose from the ideas and inner experiences of lone, isolated human beings, the path presented by near-death experiences is emerging as a direct, grassroots revelation that millions of people from all over the world are receiving and sharing. If we explore this newly emerging path deeply enough, we discover that all religions, philosophies, and cultures are honored; that science and spirituality are celebrated; that both the human and spiritual side of our natures are cherished and embraced. In short, near-death experiences present us with a universal, all-inclusive, perfectly integrated spiritual path that revolves around three core truths: 1. We are all one; 2. Love is the essence of life; 3. We are here, in this world, to become perfect embodiments of the Divine." -- David Sunfellow

“Merely learning about the near-death experience has effects similar to those reported by NDErs.” -- Kenneth Ring,
from "Lessons from the Light"

“For me personally, I’m showing more love to others now than before I started my near-death-experience studies. My understanding of near-death experiences has made me a better doctor. I face life with more courage and confidence. I believe NDErs really do bring back a piece of the afterlife. When NDErs share their remarkable experiences, I believe a piece of the afterlife, in some mysterious way, becomes available to us all.” -- Jeffrey Long, "Evidence of the Afterlife"

"I'm not asking you to believe anything. I'm simply telling you what I believe. And I have no idea what the next life will be like. Whatever I saw was only from the doorway, so to speak. But it was enough to convince me totally of two things from that moment on: One, that our consciousness does not cease with physical death; that it becomes, in fact, keener and more aware than ever. And secondly, that how we spend our time on earth, the kind of relationships we build, is vastly more important than we can know." -- George G. Ritchie, M.D., summarizing his famous near-death experience which helped launch the near-death experience movement. From his book, "Return From Tomorrow"

"Many events in my life I experienced, but not from how I remembered it, but from the point of view... [of] how the people, animals, environment experienced it around me. I felt it as my own. The times I had made others happy, and sad, I felt it all as they did. It was very apparent that every single thought, word, and action affects everything around us and indeed the entire universe. Trees, plants, animals too. I have been a long-term vegetarian since about 18 years old and I know this was appreciated and is a good choice in life. Spiritually it seemed to show proof of respect for all life, and even seemed to balance some of the negative and wicked things I have done in my life. In the life review we judge ourselves; no one else does. The light/god did not. But with no ego left -- and no lies -- we can't hide from what we have done and feel remorse and shame, especially in the presence of this love and light. Some of the things in life we think of as important don't seem to be so important there. But some of the insignificant things from the material human perspective are very important spiritually." -- Justin U describing his near-death experience on the NDERF website

"I have never interviewed anyone who had a near-death experience who told me that they came back to make more money or to spend more time at their jobs away from their families... Instead, they become convinced that they need to be more loving and kind. They react to their experience by living life to its fullest. They believe their lives have a purpose, even if that purpose is obscure to them. Invariably it involves concepts such as love of family or service to others. They seem to know that the love they create while living will be reflected and radiated back to them when they die." -- Melvin Morse, M.D., from his book, Parting Visions

“I went into this tunnel, and I came into this room that was just beautiful. God held me, He called me by name, and He told me, ‘Mary Jo, you can’t stay.’ And I wanted to stay. I protested. I said, ‘I can’t stay? Why not?’ And I started talking about all the reasons; I was a good wife, I was a good mother, I did 24-hour care with cancer patients. And He said, ‘Let me ask you one thing -- have you ever loved another the way you’ve been loved here?’ And I said, ‘No, it’s impossible. I’m a human.’ And then He just held me and said, ‘You can do better.’ ” -- Mary Jo Rapini, describing her near-death experience

"I asked them if there were other worlds. And they said, yes, the universe is full of other worlds -- and there are other dimensions of other physical universes and those are full of other worlds." -- Howard Storm describing his NDE in "My Descent Into Death"

"The Light kept changing into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked the Light, “What is going on here? Please, Light, clarify yourself for me... The Light responded. The information transferred to me was that during your life after death experience your beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before the Light. If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own stuff. You have a chance to look at it and examine it, but most people do not. As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that what I was really seeing was our higher Self matrix." -- Mellen-Thomas Benedict

"God gave everything to us, everything is here -- this is where it's at. And what we are into now is God's exploration of God through us. People are so busy trying to become God that they ought to realize that we are already God and God is becoming us. That's what it is really about. When I realized this, I was finished with the void, and wanted to return to this creation..." -- Mellen-Thomas Benedict

“In one of my visits with the Light I was told that the near-death experience... would become more and more popular and it would have an affect on the entire world when a critical mass was hit and all these people have died and come back and are telling you that there is a lot more going on than we think." -- Mellen-Thomas Benedict